Why junking job and consumption surveys does economy more harm than good

These studies are the only kind in the country to deliver information on a wide range of economic metrics vital for policymaking and implementing welfare schemes

The government recently junked its flagship survey on consumer spending by Indians, which it had conducted between July 2017 and June 2018. The survey had shown that an average Indian spent less in 2017-18 on essential food and non-food items such as clothes, medicine, television sets and transport, than what she spent in 2011-12.

The scrapping of the report has created a furore among observers of the Indian economy and society, due to some critical reasons: it is the only survey in India that gives details on item-wise consumption of all classes of Indians, from rural to urban, from the